Venture Capital, Thoughts and Much Less - Rami Beracha

Plenty of theories around the question of what should be the right timing for bringing in the 'magician' .. that ultimate sales executive that brings with him this amazing Rolodex of only Fortune 5000 companies and has miraculous sales skills.. the guy that can turn our miserable pipeline into a bursting flow of deals... We brought up that question in one of our CEO round tables and came back with interesting observations: Most of the participants stated the 'obvious'... that well- accepted common wisdom that a VP of Sales should NOT be brought to a company prematurely.. "the only sales executive in the 1st phase should be the CEO..." .." if you bring a mature VP Sales before there are real sales, you will lose him because these guys' salaries are based substantially on their performance bonus.." .. "the kind of guys you really want will not join an early stage start up..". I agree NOT.. A VP of Sales is not a hired gun and should not b...

Ender is a 6 year old boy. He has no relevant experience in practically anything.. Still, he is Earth's 1st and only choice in its last and final survival battle against a coming Alien attack that may extinguish Earth, and life as we know them. Ender was chosen for what he was - a brilliant strategist, a constant self-learner and above all, a survivor, a winner. If i meet Ender, i will invest in him... no matter his experience. I urge you to read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. www.ender.com/ender

Fun should be the basis for everything. if something is not going to cause you great fun try to find something else that will... The chances of succeeding in something we do will go up dramatically if we obey this simple rule, I hope.. A major factor (other than greed..) that i consider when looking at a potential investment is the question whether im going to have fun working with this group of people for the next 5 to 7 years...

One of the issues that I find myself fighting over with some of the CEOs I'm working with is their desire to do everything perfect... The best example I can have is their desire to bring the best product to market.. a polished fully thought out product that the market would fall in love with instantly..... their own creation. In most of the cases, these products will get into the market a few months later than planned just to discover that the market doesn't really fall for many of its features... Other, more experienced, CEOs hold the view that the market also should have something to say about the product they want him to buy (for lots of money). They prefer introducing the basic working product (with its inherent innovation) as fast as possible. Once they are there and implemented by the customer, they can start working with him on improving the product by adding additional features that the first group of CEOs (mentioned above) spent money and time trying to figure out.. My...